#MADEWITHLOVE: Tali Magal Shows Us How to Give with Heart, Soul and Business

Tali Magal is one of those people whose energy and smile is contagious. She’s joyous from the inside out, and crushing it professionally. Beyond running her production company Freebird Productions, she supports Accompany, a beautiful ethically edited online shop that only sources brands made with heart and soul. We rounded up some of our favorite mama run brands on the site, and all of our heymamas a get a 20% discount on the shop too. We love having this lady in our orbit and sharing a little bit of her magic with you.

Tell us a little about your career path?

I own a production company specializing in print,motion, and commercial campaigns. Our main projects are fashion based, but it has branched into every possible category imaginable; cars, food, beverage, beauty… you name it. My career path sort of happened organically. I worked in PR for a year when I first moved to NY in the early 2000’s. Part of my job was to represent various restaurants and hotels. Magazines & brands would call the PR agency I worked at about doing photo-shoots in these spaces. I would go to the shoots as a PR representative, but I always felt like the creative vibe on set was a lot more my speed than the PR office I worked in. I ended up jumping ship to a production company for a few years, followed by a few photo agencies before finally starting my own production company. I could have never predicted the trajectory, but looking back, it all makes sense and is a really good fit for me.

Did you always know what you wanted to do?

Not at all. When I was trying to figure out what path to follow I kept saying: “I want to be creative, travel, and speak Italian” (I lived in Italy in College.) — so all fingers pointed towards working in Fashion. I followed that lead and it all started to make sense and work out.

How did your career life change when you became a mama?

Well my babes are still only 10 months old, so I suppose I’m still figuring that out. I have a really wonderful team here in NY & in LA so we have been able to continue working on our regular projects. I have had to slow down on the travel a bit, it is all new territory that I’m just starting to adjust to. But I have worked so hard to build a company that I am proud of and a client list that I love, so I feel like I just need to buck up and make it work. I have gotten a lot better at getting things done quickly. Knowing that I have my sweet babes waiting at home is great incentive to be concise and use work time efficiently. I don’t hang out at the office or dawdle on my way home anymore. I finish what I need to and I’m back with them. I never understood what people meant about wanting to race back to their kids. It just sounded like a dull obligation to me at the time. Now I get it. It’s the most powerful desire and pull. Its like you get butterflies as though you are about to see the guy you’ve been crushing on and you just can’t wait to be in their presence. It puts everything into perspective.

I never understood what people meant about wanting to race back to their kids. It just sounded like a dull obligation to me at the time. Now I get it. It’s the most powerful desire and pull. Its like you get butterflies as though you are about to see the guy you’ve been crushing on and you just can’t wait to be in their presence.

You’ve always been such a loving and generous of spirit person even before your girls. Do you feel like becoming mama made your heart bigger?

Aww Thanks! I just feel like being a mother connects you more deeply to humanity as a whole. You realize that every person around you is someone’s little baby. That we all are truly born so pure and whole and open. In the beginning when I was home cocooning and bonding with them and it was all so primal I just felt super connected to anyone I would come into contact with. I was reminded of how life begins for all of us and how sweet it is. I feel so lucky and grateful that I was able to have a healthy pregnancy and was able to be home and cocoon and bond with my new born babies in a safe place. It is heart breaking to see these stories about all the refugees with little babies and children fleeing their homes on inflatable rafts with nothing. You cant help but feel for those women and children (and families.) So I don’t know if my heart got bigger, but I definitely feel a deeper connection with fellow mothers… and of course with any baby I see. 😉

I just feel like being a mother connects you more deeply to humanity as a whole. You realize that every person around you is someone’s little baby.

What is Accompany?

Accompany is an online curated marketplace of fashion, accessories and home/gifting goods that support communities in the developing world across 40 countries — and yet have been edited with an on-trend eye for style.

Why is it’s message so important right now?

In an era of fast-fashion causing pollution and harming marginalized people around the world, and a time when global income inequality continues to grow — it’s now more important than ever to think about how to support independent people, provide training and fair income and to bring attention to social causes worldwide. The fashion industry is a powerhouse that can really make a difference here, AND we believe this can be done without sacrificing the consumer’s demand for high quality, beautiful products.

How does it work to support women around the word?

We support women in a broad range of ways — from disabled communities fighting human trafficking in Cambodia, to women entrepreneurs in Guatemala fighting the social stigma that women shouldn’t be business owners, to widows living with HIV in Ethiopia working to support their families, to refugees from Myanmar forced out of their country and now living in Massachusetts making double the state’s local minimum wage. We believe so much good can be done by driving prosperity to the right place, while being in step with consumer tastes, to ensure long-term and meaningful growth, impact and change.

What does it mean to “give-back” to you?

I just feel so fortunate to have been born in a time & place and under circumstances that didn’t just allow but encouraged me to get an education and to pursue my dreams. I could have just as easily been born in another time and in another part of the world where none of this would have been a possibility. I am grateful for all of my opportunities, and I feel compelled and happy to help others to push past their circumstances and to help themselves. Many people have been good to me, and so I feel like it is just paying it forward to be good to others as much as possible, in return.

How do you plan to talk to your girls about giving back and being supportive of the global community?

I hope to travel with them and not just tell them about the world outside of NY, but to actually show them. I feel like I have learned the most in my life when I’ve lived or traveled abroad. It is the best way to shift perspective and I hope to share that with them. I also hope to keep their world as diverse as possible and not to only show them the tidy parts of life…. And I’d like to instill that being generous of spirit only opens more doors in life.

What’s a pinch me moment in your career been?

There have definitely been a few! I loved climbing into volcanoes, sailing through lakes and wading out into the surf in Nicaragua with Karlie Kloss and Ryan McGinley for The New York Times T-Magazine. And I just wrapped an incredible shoot at Elon Musk’s SpaceX in California. It’s not every day you get to shoot high fashion in a top security rocket ship factory. There were all these incredible space craft there that had been to space and back… definitely surreal.

If you could have just one wish for your girls what would it be?

I hope they find their own joy and fulfillment in life. I wish them all the obvious things; health, joy, prosperity…but if only 1 thing, as my Grandmother always wished for me, I wish them much LUCK in life. 😉

What is the most import thing you can teach your girls?

I don’t know if there is ONE lesson that rules above all else. I’ll teach them everything I possibly can…. But I hope they always know how deeply loved they are.

To learn more about Tali, check out her heymama profile here and make sure to support #smallbusiness and ethically made products on Accompany here.